Michel Wintsch / Benoit Piccand

Andrea Parkins & Matthew Ostrowski

Elective Affinities

Infrequent Seams 21

Phil Durrant & Bill Thompson

Intraspect

Burning Harpsichord BHR 003

Udo Schindler & Korhan Erel

Lebenjnebel

Creative Sources CS 486 CD

Expanding within the community so it has become almost commonplace, one of the prevalent challenges for exploratory musicians in the 21st century is the integration of electronic and acoustic sounds. Without abandoning acoustic instruments completely as some have done, the tension engendered by craftily emphasizing both currents is exciting in itself, as these sessions prove. Since improvisation is involved though, each duo here shades the electro-acoustic divide somewhat different. The sessions by Americans Andrea Parkins and Matthew Ostrowski and UK-based Phil Durrant and Bill Thompson are the most committed to electronic expression, while the discs by Germans Udo Schindler and Korhan Erel and Michel Wintsch and Benoit Piccand from Switzerland emphasize acoustic qualities.

The result of two decades of collaboration, Elective Affinities melds interactive technology developer and academic Ostrowski, who has worked with David Behrman and John Butcher, with Parkins, whose playing experience encompasses groups with Ellery Eskelin and Ute Wasserman among others. Beginning with harmonized watery splashes that are designated by granular synthesis plus percussive chunks evolved at super collider speeds and vocalized cries in different pitches, it isn’t until “Collisions”, the second track that tremolo glissandi from Parkins’ accordion becomes audible and is soon interrupted by powerful smacks that could come from a jackhammer. As swift accordion glissandi move across the sound field, occasional ring modulator pings and synthesized space tone variations swell and dissolve into timbres that seem not quiet human verbalization or in fact any animal’s noises. Midway though, during “Discontinuity Function” and then “Solubility”, the dual emphasis speeds up, decisively splintering, as Parkins’ bellows-expanded stings and pushes or paralleled by Ostrowski’s guitar-like twangs at a slower speed until the joint motorized flanges take on backwards-running tape qualities. Finally, the aptly named “Closure” is just that, synthesizing the dual challenges that have preceded that track. Before field-recorded voices signal the ending with rebroadcast human comments, accordion glissandi and stops have vanished within the polyphonic mass which otherwise is characterized by synthesized vibrations that resemble mutated pipe-organ tones.

Consistently more abstract than Elective Affinities is Intraspect’s single track Here the guitar qualities of Thompson’s Moog guitar are buried among washes of juddering textures issuing from Durrant’s the modular synthesizer. Durant who has collaborated with Butcher and Burkard Beins among others, and also composes dance music, puts aside any terpsichorean inferences to produce intermittent shakes and oscillations. Contained in these concentrated vamps is a backdrop of steady drones divided among various sound layers. As the performance reaches its final climax, among the ever-shifting droning oscillations, guitar-like twangs from American Thompson, who also collaborates with choreographers finally, make their agreeable presence felt. Linking understated string fills and frails, the slowed down tremolo interface fades into reassuring hums.

Balancing the electro-acoustic schism more equitably is keyboardist Wintsch, whose WHO trio with Gerry Hemingway is his Jazz outlet alongside composing for theatre and films. Yet in this duo with Piccand, a studio director and audio technology lecturer who handles the electronics, the pianist hardens and emphasizes his instrument’s pedal and keyboard pressure while angling forward during Hipparchus’ seven tracks. Dealing with chiming inferences and a wash of crackling static on the extended “Zoindeu Deu” for instance,, the pianist gallops ahead of the beat and descends the scale from keyboard glissandi to soundboard rumbles and stopped internal strings. As the electronic oscillations mute, Wintsch shifts to quiet comping.

This sort of strategy is followed throughout the session as the pianist decisively clips or roughly smashes keys to assert his narratives within the interface. Meanwhile as on “Klounes”, Piccand strengthened the processing with wave form effects and polyrhythmic clangor sourced from his synthesizer. Elsewhere Wintsch’s expositions suggest harpsichord or vibraharp-like emphasis, and the electronics manipulator responds with strategies that include creating echoing pops or swelling oscillations. Able to produce sudden bursts of emphasized chords or high-pitched patterning, the pianist leaves plenty of space for Piccand’s granular shakes and echoes to shape the tracks, but always asserts the qualities of an acoustic piano.

Another instance of acoustic instrumental textures asserting their properties while facing an electronic onslaught occurs on the nine tracks of Lebenjnebel. But here Munich-based Schindler, who has played with everyone from Frank Paul Schubert to Sebi Tramontana, is able to divide his exposition among cornet, bass and contrabass clarinets and soprano saxophone. Meanwhile Turkish sound artist Erel, who has worked with the likes of Liz Albee and David Rothenberg, produces tones from a computer and controllers. The most profound instances of their meeting here occur on “Harmonie In Jedem Fall” and “Willentlich Gebrochen”. Cutting through the computer’s crying waver forms and ring-modular-like echoes, Schindler’s contrabass clarinet snorts and growls move from subterranean to altissimo, creating a reed showcase on top of ever-shifting oscillations. On the extended “Willentlich Gebrochen” as well, Erel works his machine’s watery static and video-game-like buzzes alongside the mid-range polyphony from the soprano saxophone. Following tension is ratcheted upwards as two tones meet in tandem, the saxophonist’s sophisticated reed exposition shifts the program down to a satisfactory resolution.

Muted and articulated the two run through a variety of challenges with Schindler moving from instrument to instrument for crafty challenges. Hand-muted brass extensions, reed bites tongue slaps and snarls, chalumeau elaborations and even grace note elaborations project different sonic identities. That means Erel has to respond in kind, fragmenting ripostes among juddering granular synthesis, hints of keyboard-like expression, bellicose metal-against-metal scrapes and pluck and flanges are used in turn. Remaining in the improvised moment, unexpected timbral surprises are more important than any pat resolution.

Any one of these CDs shows how well –and individually – improvisers accept and triumph when dealing with the acoustic/electronic provocation.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Elective: 1, Substance & Mixture 2. Collisions 3. Intrication 4. Eclipse 5. Valence 6. Discontinuity Function 7. Solubility 8. Closure

Personnel: Elective: Andrea Parkins (accordion, objects, And electronics) and Matthew Ostrowski (objects, electronics)

Track Listing: Intraspect: 1. Intraspect

Personnel: Intraspect: Bill Thompson (Moog guitar, live electronics, found objects) and Phil Durrant (modular synthesizer)

Track Listing: Hipparchus: 1. Napabe 2. Zoindeu Deu 3. Klounes 4. Vounepou 5.Védonkpa 6. Ferla 7. Fer

Personnel: Hipparchus: Michel Wintsch (piano) and Benoit Piccand (electronics)

Track Listing: Lebenjnebel: 1. Anfall Und Anflug 2. Landschaft Mit Kopf 3. Algenrauschen 4. Harmonie In Jedem Fall 5. Willentlich Gebrochen 6. Wilde Zitronen 7. Schauturnen 8. Am Rande, Denkst Du 9. Wechselbalg

Personnel: Lebenjnebel: Udo Schindler (cornet, bass and contrabass clarinet, soprano saxophone) and Korhan Erel (computer, controllers)